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A Religious History of Australia: 1770 until Right Now
Thesis For this episode, we are heading Down Under again to look at what happened to religion in Australia after us white folks arrived and took over (if you wanna know what happened before that, see episode XX and be prepared for flying uteruses/uteri). But today, from convicts to contemporary controversy, and Federation to fundies, we're gonna talk about the real ''meaning of Southern Religion. But first, it's time for..... JIS OF THE WEEK As we are focussing on the Antipodes for this episode, it will be Emma's pleasure to share the JIS of the week with the masses. And here it is: BTW, there is no date on this article, so go roll a dice to decide what year the quoted "data" came from. '''Jedi 'religion' grows in Australia ' "Jedi" is the faith espoused in the Star Wars films. As Jedi Master Yoda sorta said (Ems to do her Yoda voice): "Mm, Mutants of Meat, feel the force around you, you must". Shockingly, more than 70,000 people in Australia have declared that they are followers of the Jedi faith, the religion created by the Star Wars films. ' ''Em’s add/Gooey’s comment: just like Christianity was created by the Books called “The Bible …” Also, FYI, 70,000 people is equivalent to around 0.3 of a percent…………… '''A recent census found that one in 270 respondents - or 0.37% of the population - say they believe in "the force", an energy field that gives Jedi Knights like Luke Skywalker their power in the films. Most of the 70,509 people who wrote Jedi on their census forms were suspected to have done so in response to an e-mail encouraging all Star Wars fans to get it recognised as an official religion. Em’s comment: Um no, it was a campaign to take the financial backing and power out of religious bodies and factions, while atheists got jack shit funding and power. But the majority do not seriously tell each other: "May the force be with you", according to Australian Star Wars Appreciation Society president Chris Brennan. "When you look at it you probably have got about 5,000 people in that 70,000 that were true hard-core people that would believe the Jedi religion carte blanche," he told ABC Radio. "Then you would have 50,000 fans that said 'oh yeah we'll just put down Jedi for fun, we don't actually have a religion of our own'. "Then you probably have 15,000 people who did it just to give the government a bit of curry," he said. Em's add: "mmm - curry" Em’s comment: We will discuss the latest on this movement in the body of the podcast, but rest assured the backlash against formalised religion in Australia is very strong and continuing. Before European Colonisation We have already explored indigenous Australian beliefs in a prior episode. But, prior to 1788 there was thought to have been contact with Indigenous Australians from people of various faiths. These contacts were with explorers, fishermen and survivors of shipwrecks. The indigenous people of Northern Australia retain stories, songs and paintings of trade (particularly in sea cucumbers) with Macassan people from the north (probably the east Indonesian archipelago or Sulawesi). There is some evidence of Islamic terms and concepts entering northern Aboriginal culture via this interaction. For example, in Arnhem Land in Northern Australia, there is a ritual associated with the ‘Dreaming’ creation figure, Walitha’ walitha, also known as "Allah". This ceremony, known as the Wurramu, is said to be sahred with the people of Macassar. This ceremony was performed when the mast of a ‘Macassan’ boat had broken or a man was about to die. One historian wrote: the funeral. . . two or more men pick up the dead body and move it up and down as though they were lifting a mast. The chorus sings ‘Oh-a-ha-la!’ while the mast is laid down. When it is picked up again they sing ‘0-0-0-0-0-a-ha-la! A-ha-la! ! A-ha-la! ! ’''' Apparently, in the Torres Strait Islands (hundreds of small islands which lie between continental Australia and New Guinea), the arrival of the Christian missionaries in 1871 and their introduction of Christianity to the region is celebrated annually through the "Coming of the Light Festival". This is a significant festival for Torres Strait Islanders, who are predominantly Christian. BTW, Torres Straight Islanders are afforded the same legal status as mainland indigenous Australians (indigenous Australians are known collectively as "Aboriginal and Torres Straight Islanders"). European Discovery and Colonisation The culture of white Australia had its origins at the time when the Enlightenment was bringing widespread disillusionment with religious traditions (The Enlightenment''' was a cultural movement of intellectuals in 18th century Europe, that sought to mobilize the power of reason to reform society and advance knowledge. It promoted science and intellectual exchange, and opposed superstition, intolerance and abuses in church and state.) As a consequence, religious concerns have never had a prominent place in the nation's identity. In case you don't know, Captain Cook is generally accepted as the "discoverer" of Australia or New Holland as it was then known (although he wasn't the first one there by any means). Between 1606 and 1770, around 50 ships from a range of European countries (many from the Dutch East Indies Company) made contact with inidigenous Australians. However, Captain Cook's arrival in 1770 is recognised as the start of European Settlement. He claimed the east coast under instruction from King George III of England at Possession Island, and named eastern Australia 'New South Wales', which is still one of the Australian states. Captain Arthur Phillip and the First Fleet, comprising 11 ships and around 1,000 people, arrived at Botany Bay in January 1788. There were around 350 free persons, and 670 prisoners on board. Governor Phillip carried instructions to establish the first British Colony in Australia. Denominations represented in the first fleet were mainly Roman Catholic found amongst Irish convicts and Anglican among other convicts and their gaolers. There were at least 15 Jews in the First Fleet. There were also a number of Methodists. Tensions fuelled by historical grievances between Roman Catholics and other Christians came to Australia along with the people of these differing denominations. Although the original Instructions to Govenor Phillip about occupying Australia have not been located, the search at the Public Record Office in London located a manuscript draft of the Instructions prepared in 1787. This draft shows a number of corrections, such as 'Natives' for 'Savages' and interesting amendments, such as the deletion of two pages referring to the implementation, in Phillip's administration, of tenets and practices of the Church of England. The deleted section begins with the statement that it is the Royal Intention that inhabitants 'should have full liberty of Conscience and the free Exercise of all such modes of Religious Worship as are not prohibited by Law'. A single paragraph is substituted for this long deleted section of the Instructions: And it is furher Our Royal Will & Pleasure that you do by all proper Methods enforce a due Observance of Religion & good order among all the Inhabitants of the new Settlement and that you do take such steps for the due Celebration of publick Woirship as circumstances will permit. Between 1788 and 1850 the English sent over 162,000 convicts to Australia in 806 ships. The religion to be observed at the time of colonisation was of course, the Church of England; and nothing was done by the colonial authorities to provide for the religious needs of Catholics. Catholic convicts were compelled to attend Church of England services and their children and orphans were raised by the authorities as Protestant. In early Colonial times, Church of England clergy worked closely with the governors. The first chaplain, Richard Johnson, a Church of England cleric, sailed with the First Fleet and arrived in Australia in 1788. He was charged by Governor Arthur Phillip with improving "public morality" in the colony, but he was also heavily involved in health and education. The Reverend Samuel Marsden had magisterial duties, and so was equated with the authorities by the convicts. He became known as the 'floging parson' for the severity of his punishments. Three Catholic priests were among the early convicts, and these guys were convicted of complicity inThe Irish Rebellion of 1798 against British rule in Ireland. All three returned to Ireland some years later. One, Rev. James Dixon, was allowed for a time to exercise his ministry. An uprising of 400 Irishmen in 1804, however, caused Governor Phillip to withdraw Dixon's authorization and salary. He remained in Sydney for four more years, ministering privately to Catholics. The Catholic faith was kept alive by the laity, who, in 1816, took the initiative of petitioning the Holy See for the services of a priest. One interesting story is that of Jeremiah O'Flynn, who wanted to spread the Catholic word to the Australian Colonies. He had himself appointed prefect apostolic as a result of the New South Wales petition. Although neither the colonial office nor the vicar apostolic of London endorsed his appointment, he set out for the colony at his own expense, hoping that proper authorization would follow. He arrived in November 1817. When it became clear to the governor that he had no official authorization, a warrant was issued for his arrest. He evaded the authorities for several months, eventually being deported in 1818. O'Flynn's escapade had an unexpected consequence. The matter of his deportation was raised in the House of Commons, and a Catholic mission in Australia was eventually authorized. The Church of England lost its legal privileges in the Colony of New South Wales by the Church Act of 1836: ‘An Act to promote the Building of Churches and Chapels and to provide for the maintenance of Ministers of Religion in New South Wales (29th July 1836)’. The Church Act of 1836 was the most important piece of legislation affecting religion to be passed in the nineteenth century. It established legal equality for Anglicans, Catholics and Presbyterians and was later extended to Methodists. Public funds were allotted for clergy as well as a promise to supply one pound for each pound raised by a congregation for the building of churches. The 19th century also saw around 2000 Muslims come to Australia from Pakistan and Afghanistan. These were mainly "cameleers" who used their camels to transport goods and people through the desert. Around 100 families remained in Australia. This was the time that Hindus first came to Australia, mainly to work on cotton and sugar plantations. Buddhists began arriving in Australia in significant numbers during the goldrush of the 1850s, with an influx of Chinese miners. Federation Federation occurred in Australia in 1901. Unlike heaps of other countries, we didn't need a war/wars to sort our shit out and create a unified nation. The Federation of Australia was the process by which the six separate British self-governing colonies of New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia, Tasmania, Victoria and Western Australia formed one nation. They kept the systems of government that they had developed as separate colonies but also had a federal government that was responsible for matters concerning the whole nation. When the Constitution of Australia came into force, on 1 January 1901, the colonies collectively became states of the Commonwealth of Australia. In 1901, over 95% of Australians identifed themselves as Christian: about 40% Anglican, 20% Catholic, and 35% "other Christian". Section 116 of the 1900 Act to constitute the Commonwealth of Australia (Australian Constitution) provides that: The Commonwealth of Australia shall not make any law establishing any religion, or for imposing any religious observance, or for prohibiting the free exercise of any religion, and no religious test shall be required as a qualification for any office or public trust under the Commonwealth. Another important thing happened in 1901: The Australian government passed an act limiting immigration to those of European descent, and this became known as the White Australia Policy. By default, this policy ensured that Christianity remained the main religion parctised in Australians at this time, and for several years after that. This policy was enacted partly in response to the presence of many Chinese in the Victorian goldfields, and the racial tensions that ensued. edit Wars and Migration Between the Great Depression which began in 1929 and the end of World War II in 1945, immigration to Australia was very low. At the start of the war, Prime Minister John Curtin (Australian Labour Party) stated: "This country shall remain forever the home of the descendants of those people who came here in peace in order to establish in the South Seas an outpost of the British race." During the war, many non-white refugees, including Malays, Indonesians, and Filipinos, arrived in Australia, but the immigration Minister sought to have them all deported. In 1948, Iranian Bahá'ís seeking to immigrate to Australia were classified as "Asiatic" by the policy and were denied entry. Encouraging immigration from Europe, Australia admitted large numbers of immigrants from mostly Italy, Greece, and Yugoslavia, as well as its traditional source of the British Isles. Migration from Europe after World War II led to increases in affiliates of Orthodox churches, growth in the number of Catholics (largely from Italian migration) and an increase in those of the Jewish faith (including Holocaust survivors). Within this period of history, Australia was growing and establishing itself as a nation. Ambitious post-war development projects like the Snowy Mountains Scheme''' could only be sourced by diversifying Australia's migrant intake. The '''Snowy Mountains scheme is a hydroelectricity and irrigation complex in south-east Australia consisting of sixteen major dams; seven power stations; a pumping station; and 225 kilometres of tunnels, pipelines and aqueducts. In 1966, the Government introduced the Migration Act, 1966. This effectively dismantled the White Australia Policy and increased access to non-European migrants. The immigration Minister announced applications for migration would be accepted from well-qualified people on the basis of their suitability as settlers, their ability to integrate readily and their possession of qualifications positively useful to Australia. As a result, annual non-European settler arrivals rose from 746 in 1966 to 2,696 in 1971. It's after 1971 that "other religions" and "no religion" started to appear as options or significant numbers in the Australian Census. We did consult some original research papers regarding religion in Australia during this period, but they said shit like this that we couldn't understand: "Inglis pointed to questions needing attention in 1958: the dynamics of the education controversy and the relations between Catholics and governments, later ‘Catholic’ political controversies like conscription and the Labor Party split, the ultramontanism or otherwise of the Church in Australia, the ‘social geography’ of the laity." Good for you, Inglis. The Vietnam war also brought religion to the fore. At this time, Australia had compulsory National Service for 20-year-old males. In March 1966, the Government announced that National Servicemen would be sent to Vietnam to fight in units of the Australian Regular Army and for secondment to American forces. Men who wanted to avoid National Service could join the Citizen Military Forces and serve only inside Australia, claim a student deferment, or attempt a conscientious objection application. In order to be exempted on the basis of conscientious objection, an applicant needed to demonstrate objection to 'all' war, not merely one specific war. In a Cabinet Submission in 1970, case studies of 17 men awaiting prosecution for failure to undertake service show a wide range of bases for opposition to conscription including these religious reasons: *Religious opposition from Jehovah's Witness viewpoint (JWs have a conscientious objection to military service and refusal to salute national flags) *Religious opposition from liberal Christian (Methodist) pacifist viewpoint (The United Methodist Church opposes conscription as incompatible with the teaching of Scripture). 70s, 80s and 90s During this time, the Hindu population increased dramatically, mainly due to immigration from Fiji, India, Sri Lanka and South Africa. During this time, Australia became a refuge for many Muslims fleeing conflicts including those in Lebanon, the former Yugoslavia, Iraq, Iran, Sudan and Afghanistan. General immigration, combined with religious conversion to Islam, as well as Australia's participation in UN refugee efforts increased the overall Muslim population. In the 1996 census, around 25% of the population reported their religion as Anglican, 30% Catholic, 20% other Christian, 5% other religion and 10% no religion. So the Christies were goin' down and the hethans were rising up. In the midst of this flourishing of diversity and reason, was born the Australian Christian Democratic Party (originally known as "The Call to Australia" party in 1977). This party existed to support Christian representation in every level of government, and was led by the Reverend Fred Nile. Fred is a bit of a legend in Australia (for all the wrong reasons). You see, Fred is a Congregational Church Minister (and current president elect). FYI, As a bit of background, in 1977, most congregations of the Congregational Union of Australia merged with all Churches of the Methodist Church of Australasia and a majority of Churches of the Presbyterian Church of Australia to form the Uniting Church in Australia. Those congregations that did not join the Uniting Church formed the Fellowship of Congregational Churches or continued as Presbyterians. So Freddie was elected to the Legislative Council (the upper house of state parliament) in 1981, and the party has managed to see a candidate elected at every subsequent New South Wales state election to date. Ugh.... The party supports policies that supposedly promote Christian values, are supportive of family values, protective of children and their rights including those of unborn children, and policies that are protective of established Australian values and systems, inclusive of a requirement that immigrants to Australia demonstrate a desire to learn English. The party opposes abortion, euthanasia, pornography, homosexuality, adultery, incest, and Islam, most notably sharia law. Keep this in your memory for when we get to "the naughties". The CDP's website starts with a plea for donations, then moves quickly on to Fred worship with this quote: "CDP’s leader, Rev Fred Nile MLC, is acknowledged for his honest and courageous stands on issues that cause great public unrest and concern." One of the CPD's beliefs is that "We believe civil government to be under the authority of God. (Romans 13:4)." Another is that "We believe that the Lord Jesus Christ himself taught that in the beginning God created mankind - male and female, and meant husband and wife to live together honourably in a lasting, loving, lifelong, faithful relationship. Marriage is a sacred relationship which God ordained for mankind so that the human race might be continued through the procreation of children, to be brought up in fear and nurture of the Lord; and for the mutual help, comfort and companionship both in prosperity and adversity." They also comment on "God's gift of sex: We believe that God has established laws of sexual morality for the well-being of society prohibiting pornography, adultery, incest, homosexuality, and other sexual aberrations which debase man, as well as defile and pollute our nation." But my FAVOURITE quote from their website is this: "Our Australian flag is also made up of Christian crosses – the Southern Cross (which is an astronomical constellation), and the Cross of St Patrick, Cross of St Andrew and the Cross of St George (which make up The Union Jack - coz we're a member of The Commonwealth.") Fucking idiot. Brush up on your vexillology, Fred. Check out the Christian Democratic Party website for more comedy gold. Now I (Ems) was privvy to an important Australian religious event in 1986 - The Pope came to Melbourne (The MCG in fact). I remember sitting there in my duffle coat freezing my arse off so I could see a very far away Pope John Paul II in a very small Popemobile driving around our hallowed ground. That's all I remember. I still have the little card they handed out as a momento of his visit. Apparently there were about 60,000 people there and he talked a lot about Polish people. Things to cover (in progress / a reminder) Missionaries Mary McKillop Cricket (with input from Tort) My experience of The Pope's Visit in 1986 (Joe - was that the year you were born???) LOL http://www.mcg.org.au/History/Other%20Events/Religious%20Visits.aspx